Friday, December 30, 2011

Funny, fascinating, frightful. The stories never end in the Great Outdoors. In case you missed them, here is our Top 10 Outdoors Blog Posts of 2011:

10. World-record great white shark caught and released by 'Shark Men.' One of the most popular posts. Of course, anything half-way decent with great white sharks will command attention. See how the Shark Men catch and release a world-record great white shark right this way.

9. Fishing technique never seen before. Fishing fun with Photoshop, or the video equivalent. Very clever, very creative, very funny. See the short film here.

8. Surfing 'Jaws' at night. Aussie Mark Visser claims to have become the first to surf Jaws at night and here is proof.

7. Slacklining over Yosemite Falls. Daring and perhaps foolish, Dean Potter pushes the limits of extreme sports by slacklining (or highlining) over Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park. Even if he does have a safety line, it’s still a fascinating watch.

6. Humpback whale rescued from gillnets in Sea of Cortez. An amazing rescue captured on film and the incredible show of thanks shown by the whale at the end.

5. Mountain biking magic. If there is such a thing as poetry on a mountain bike, stunt artist Danny MacAskill performs it with incredible aplomb. And you gotta see him ride an unstable cable. Must see to believe.

3. Sinking sailboat is a piece of art. When is a sinking sailboat NOT a sinking sailboat? When it is a sailboat that only looks like it’s sinking. It’s called the Love Love Boat, and we think you’ll love, love it. See if it's really sinking.

2. Yosemite: Highlining at 3,000 feet without a harness. Mich Kemeter offers an adrenaline rush in this video of him crossing a 99-foot-long, one-inch-wide rope at Taft Point in Yosemite National Park -- WITHOUT A SAFETY HARNESS. The craziness is right here.

1. Scariest hiking trail in the world. The No. 1 Outdoors Blog Post of 2011 is without question this video of the El Caminito del Rey or The King’s Little Pathway, located in the province of Malaga, Spain. Watch the video and hold your breath. And watch your step! Click here and be amazed.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Japanese whalers are enlisting two military-style security vessels to ensure they'll not be thwarted in their annual effort to kill hundreds of whales under the guise of research.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-whaling group that for seven years has been tormenting and harassing the whalers in an attempt to prevent the senseless killing of whales, are now using drones to locate the whalers' mothership.

This could get interesting.

You've probably heard of "Whale Wars." Over the last seven years around this time, the Sea Shepherd has sent a fleet to the Southern Ocean in the Antarctic for the sole purpose of saving whales. For the last four years, its exploits have been videotaped and turned into a reality TV series called "Whale Wars," which debuted on Animal Planet on Nov. 7, 2008.

Last season, Sea Shepherd enlisted a sophisticated, high-speed boat called Godzilla to locate the factory ship, called the Nisshin Maru. But when Godzilla broke down, Sea Shepherd had a difficult time relocating the Nisshin Maru, which processes whales killed by crews aboard harpoon boats.

The Sea Shepherd crew has intercepted the Japanese whaling fleet on Christmas Day, a thousand miles north of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Readying to launch a drone.

The Sea Shepherd ship, Steve Irwin, deployed a drone to successfully locate and photograph the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru on December 24th. Once the pursuit began, three Japanese harpoon/security ships moved in on the Steve Irwin to shield the Nisshin Maru to allow it to escape.﻿ ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

This time however the Japanese tactic of tailing the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker will not work because the drones, one on the Steve Irwin and the other on the Bob Barker, can track and follow the Nisshin Maru and can relay the positions back to the Sea Shepherd ships.﻿﻿

“We can cover hundreds of miles with these drones and they have proven to be valuable assets for this campaign,” said Captain Paul Watson on board the Steve Irwin.﻿﻿﻿﻿

The drone named Nicole Montecalvo was donated to the Steve Irwin by Bayshore Recycling of New Jersey.

The plot is definitely thickening since Captain Watson seemed to indicate that the Japanese whalers and their security vessels are coming armed this time.

Monday, December 19, 2011

For those Sarah Palin fans who enjoy watching her fish, hunt, shoot guns, encounter bears and track Bigfoot (kidding, we think), the popular Palin TV show -- "Sarah Palin’s Alaska" -- appears to be returning for a second season (defnitely not kidding) in Fall/Winter 2012.

Since she isn’t running for president, the former vice-presidential candidate will return to her status as reality TV star. What better place for Sarah Palin to get her name back in the limelight than in the Great Outdoors of Alaska?

Producer Mark Burnett says he is in discussions with TLC to bring "Sarah Palin’s Alaska" back for a second season next fall.

"The plan would be to shoot this in the summer of 2012," he tells The Post.

New episodes of the outdoorsy reality series — which shows the former vice-presidential candidate fishing, hunting and dog sledding with her family — would not air until after the November presidential election.

"By the time we edit it, the election will be over," Burnett says. "But I am sure the election would be mentioned [in the show]."

Sarah Palin encounters a bear on her
outdoors reality show.

"It makes perfect sense, because that is what’s going on. But it would be again Sarah in Alaska, living with Todd and the family and having adventures juxtaposed with doing her Fox News bits and discussing whatever is going on."

As for a Hollywood Reporter report that Sarah Palin’s husband Todd would be the subject of an outdoors show about his snowmobiling career? Not true.

"In fact, the idea around snowmobiling was to be part of an episode in ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’ -- not a series," Burnett told The Post.﻿﻿﻿

﻿﻿﻿﻿

"Sarah Palin’s Alaska" debuted in November 2010 and drew more than 5 million viewers, making it the No. 1 premiere ever on TLC.﻿﻿﻿﻿

Brazil is a nation of water, with a massive geographic area and the largest freshwater supply in the world. The vast, untapped reserve of remote rivers and cascading waterfalls makes some of the best expedition kayaking on the planet. With a rare chance to explore the remote reaches of the Amazon's drainage, Ben and Chris have made a habit out of scouting and running Brazil's vast network of waterfalls and whitewater.

Not only does the video show the beauty of Brazil, it offers some incredible adrenaline footage.

Friday, December 16, 2011

When it comes to snowboarding records, not even the legendary Shaun White can touch this one.

Not that he couldn’t if he tried. Just saying. After all, the world record for longest snowboard rail grind doesn’t have his name attached to it. Not yet, anyway.

No, the record belongs to one British snowboarder by the name of Calum Paton, who rode a specially constructed rail for an amazing 255.9 feet, or about 15 yards shorter than the length of a football field.

The old record of 219 feet, 9 inches was held by Spain’s Alejandro Benito, who set the mark in September 2009 at the Madrid SnowZone.

The video tells most of the story, though an exuberant commentator goes a bit overboard in calling Paton the world’s best snowboarder -- OK, Shaun White, you probably have a pretty good beef over that one.

Whitelines Snowboard Magazine, EA Sports and Sno!Zone Milton Keynes Indoor Slope organized the event, built a custom-length, 295.3-foot rail, and arranged for an official of Guinness World Records to be there.

The well-publicized event attracted the top snowboarders in the UK. One by one they attempted a record ride. One by one they fell far short.

As the event neared its conclusion, it appeared that nobody was going to break the record. After all, some of the finest rail riders had failed for 4 1/2 hours. It was 11:30 p.m.

Paton with his Guinness World Record certificate
and a $1,000 check for breaking the record.

Finally, in the last 10 minutes of the session, when everybody, including the representative from Guinness World Records, was about to pack it in, Paton started a ride he’ll never forget. At one with the rail, Paton did a 50-50, sliding down like a moving magnet until he surpassed the record mark, prompting a celebration.

“I’m so stoked,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to do it at all! It feels so surreal that I actually hold a world record.”

Of course the editor of Whitelines, Ed Blomfield, was ecstatic, too, saying, “We knew that with our thriving indoor scene the UK had some world-class rail riders, and this gave us a great opportunity to prove that.”

Thursday, December 15, 2011

What happens when Team iLuminate of "America's Got Talent" fame takes its talents to the surf of Bondi Beach in New South Wales?

You get what Strongbow staged recently to mark the start of summer in Australia: A bunch of surfers wearing neon-lit wetsuits surfing on neon-lit surfboards in the dark, with fireworks going off behind them.

See the spectacle, entitled Strongbow Neon Night Surfing Bondi, right this way...

Strongbow, incidentally, is a "crisp, premium imported cider from the U.K. which delivers maximum refreshment in an authentic, traditional English recipe."

To mark the start of summer, Strongbow joined forces with legendary surfing filmmaker Jack McCoy (Endless Summer II), Bali Strickland and Eugene Tan (Aquabumps) to capture Australia's largest glow in the dark surf attempt at Bondi Beach. On summer's eve, 17 Strongbow surfers descended on Bondi Beach in custom made glow-in-the-dark surfboards and wetsuits as an official "welcome to summer" for Strongbow. Channel 10's Bondi Rescue lifeguards, Corey Oliver and Andrew Reid, were among the surfers taking part. Hundreds of onlookers lined the beach and the Bondi Icebergs balcony to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A viral video about a bear that waves back to a young girl who first waved to it is making the rounds in the media these days. The "Today" show was among the latest outlets to feature this rather ancient (in Internet years) video.

It was posted on YouTube in June 2010, but, according to a story on ABC News, it "has become a hit on YouTube today." Indeed, it is popular, having been viewed more than 1.9 million times. Actually, there are several videos about the waving bear.

Now, thanks to ABC News, we know why the bear waves to people. But first, the YouTube video:

How nice.

The Kodiak bear makes its home at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, Wash., where it routinely waves to people.

If it may seem odd to see a giant bear wave to a human, this particular bear has show business in its blood.

Its home, the Olympic Game Farm, is a park for retired show animals that have previously worked in TV, films and at theme parks.

The farm worked exclusively for Walt Disney Studios for 28 years, providing animal actors for productions like "The Incredible Journey," "White Wilderness" and the "Grizzly Adams" television and movie series, according to its website.

In 1972, the farm opened its doors to the public and now offers tours, a petting farm and educational activities, in addition to caring for the animals that call it home.

So if you want to go where bears wave back to you, go to the Olympic Game Farm in Washington. But we advise against trying this if you ever happen to encounter a Kodiak bear in Alaska. The welcome might not be as friendly.

Before you conclude Lewis Crathern of the UK is crazy, consider first the efforts he's making to publicize the populous, including schoolchildren, about the importance of wind power as a renewable energy.

If you missed it, Crathern, a four-time British pro men's kitesurfing champion, gained world-wide fame in November 2010 when he became the first to jump Brighton Pier in the UK. He did it while kitesurfing.

Today, the behind-the-scenes story of that historic and daring (or crazy, if you prefer) jump over the pier is making the rounds on the Internet in the form of a documentary.

"The Man that Touched the Sky" is a 29-minute film (click above) that premiered at the 2011 Brighton Film Festival but is posted on YouTube.

The Summary:

The Man that touched the sky is an in depth look at the pioneering kite jumping extraordinaire Lewis Crathern preparing for the biggest jump of his life over Brighton Pier, an exclusive look behind the scenes into Lewis' life, showing never seen before footage with him preparing for his infamous jump months before it happened. The documentary touches on the emotions, physical strength training, precision weather monitoring and pure skill to achieve such a dramatic result. Lewis' pier jumping achievement created a frenzy of media reaching beyond the realms of Brighton to be a phenomenon of global explosion. It also explores why Lewis is searching for new challenges outside the competition circuit and how he uses kitesurfing and wind energy as a tool to teach others whilst increasing eco awareness.

"I am stoked to be involved in a film which will really help the public understand what kitesurfing is about," Crathern said in promotional material, and spoken like a true surfer dude.

Interestingly, in the film, he says this about jumping the Brighton Pier: "It made me feel alive. It made me feel like a human being."

It baffles the mind as to why someone would say jumping a pier with a kitesurfing board makes you feel like a human being. Wouldn't it make you feel more like a bird? An airplane? A misguided surfer?

Thursday, December 1, 2011

We thought Alex Honnold was crazy when he attempted to scale a 1,600-foot rock face in Yosemite National Park using nothing more than his hands and feet. No ropes. No safety net. No brains.

“60 Minutes” captured this craziness that keeps you on edge even though you know he makes it to the top without falling. Now comes daredevil adrenaline junkie Mich Kemeter, who is no less crazy than Honnold.

After crossing a 99-foot-long, one-inch-wide rope at Taft Point, Yosemite, three times with a safety harness, Kemeter decided to do a free solo highline over the same rope -- 3,000 feet above the ground!

No safety harness, no net...no brains.

The UK Daily Mail has more of the story about the 23-year-old Australian, but you can see it here in this Vimeo video:

As someone says in the background, “Holy Toledo, that is unbelievable.”

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The hit is much like the one San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis might lay on a running back in the open field -- a blind-sided tackle that knocks the running back's helmet off.

Except in this case, the linebacker is a Red Hartebeest -- something like a deer with curly horns -- and the running back is a mountain biker competing in a mountain bike race in Albert Falls Dam Nature Reserve in South Africa.

Watch mountain biker Evan van der Spuy of Team Jeep South Africa get blind-sided and nearly have his block knocked off. It isn't pretty, but we're happy to report that the mountain biker does eventually stand up in the end. The helmet, however, did not survive.

Take a look at this major ouch:
(NFSW warning: Beware of the "Holy cow, [expletive]" from Spuy's teammate, Travis Walker, who was filming from behind.)

Incredibly -- and luckily -- Spuy avoided a second collision a little while later, narrowly avoiding another mountain bike racer and he flies by down the trail.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Killer whales are found in all the oceans of the world and generally live in pods, sticking together like most good families do. But the one whale in this video apparently strayed away.

Evidence suggests it has been hanging around motor boats way too long.

In the video, we see the whale swim up to the back of a boat and come nose-to-nose with the Johnson outboard motor. Then it does the most curious thing. It starts imitating the motor. It even sounds as if it is running out of gas half-way through the video.

It's probably safe to say that this killer whale is the black sheep of the pod.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Zach King displays a unique fishing technique never seen before. He's like a fish magnet, and he has fish jumping into his hands. Who needs a rod and reel when you have this fishing technique perfected, like Zach?

Today, Zach gives a quick how-to overview on his fishing technique in this incredible fishing video called Extreme Fishing Alaska:

OK, so Zach King is actually the Final Cut King and is an expert in the video version of Photoshop.

But even while King offers a perfect reason why everything posted on the Internet these days must be scrutinized carefully, he gets high grades from Outdoors 720. We give it five stars for ingenuity and entertainment value.

Now, if you want real, check out the link below for the fishing hotspot where hundreds of carp will jump into your boat. Literally. No kidding. Reel-ly .

You’ll need a bigger rod and reel, and a bigger boat, too. And heaven help you if you are able to troll this lure and actually hook a fish big enough to bite it.

How big would a fish have to be to bite it? Big. Really big. Because the lure weighs 355.2 pounds and measures 10 feet, 10 inches. In fact, the lure is so big, it just became the world’s largest fishing lure officially on record.

The Guinness World Records confirmed the record recently at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Sandestin, Fla.

Local fisherman/businessman David Partridge of Flat-Liner Lures designed the lure, which was constructed by employees and friends of S.S. Spitfire Mercantile.
﻿﻿﻿

The reasons behind creating a large fishing lure were many. Firstly, it was a natural fit for the area. The Destin area is known as the 'world's luckiest fishing village' due to the quality and variety of the fish found in this section of the Gulf of Mexico. As such, it only makes sense that the world's luckiest fishing village would create the world's largest fishing lure.

The International Game Fish Association keeps track of fishing world records, and now, Guinness Book of World Records keeps records for the world’s largest fishing lure.

Since it was a new category, Guinness established a minimum requirement of 10 times the size of a standard lure.

“The Sandestin lure was 24 times the size of a regular lure, so the only remaining detail was to take the exact measurements, as this is the yardstick by which future records will be measured,” Mochan wrote.

After taking the measurements, Mochan declared the lure a world record.

Alas, no fisherman will ever use the lure. It’ll be on permanent display at the S.S. Spitfire Mercantile, a fishing/souvenir shop at the marina of the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. Assuming there’s room.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

A day after the 9/11 atrocities, a group of fishermen, fishing rods and tackle boxes in hand, boarded a half-day sportfishing boat at Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach, Calif.

Their message was simple: Life goes on. With the pain still fresh, they urged others to continue on with their lives as normally as possible. Don’t let the terrorists win, they all said.

A day later, Chuck Robinson, another fisherman, dealt with the despair many Americans were facing with a novel idea. He established a volunteer organization called Fish4America. From his website:

On September 13th Chuck Robinson, an avid Southern California recreational angler, was suffering from the same despondent helplessness that overcame most Americans after the attack. While listening to his car radio, he heard a report that the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan was feeding the rescue workers and surviving victims of the attack, but had run out of food. The thought occurred to him that many hundreds of pounds of prime sport caught fish were sitting in the collective freezers of his fishing buddies. What if there was some way to rally his fellow anglers, and get this valuable food to New York? His first call was to good friend, and fellow angler, Earl Durham. Earl's enthusiasm helped fortify Chuck's resolve to take his campaign to the next level.

The simple idea grew beyond Robinson’s expectations. More from the website:

Within only 48 hours, 2500 lbs. of recreationally caught albacore, yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, wahoo, shark and mahi-mahi were sitting in freezer storage at New Fishall Bait company in Gardena, CA and 1000 lbs. were packaged for shipment. Golden State Container Co. donated the packaging supplies and members of the InternetFishing.com message board supplied the fish and labor to make this happen. On September 17th, the first 1000 lbs. were shipped, courtesy of the employees of the Irvine, CA FedEx station. The next day, another InternetFishing.com member, Triet Le, met the fish, hailed a NY cab and hand delivered the fish to The Hard Rock Café. They started feeding the rescue workers with it the same day. Just one week after the tragedy, our fish was being used to feed the people working in "The Pit". FISH4AMERICA was born.

Not long after that, Fish4America contributed another 4,000 pounds of fish and spurred a fundraising event at the Hard Rock Café in Newport Beach, Calif., that raised more than $13,000 for future shipping costs of fish. Leftover funds went to the N.Y. City Firefighter’s Association Widows and Orphans Fund.

Outdoors 720 commemorates the anniversary of 9/11 by remembering the role fishing played in helping fishermen (and others) recover from the atrocities against our nation.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

About two weeks ago, a story appeared in the Fresno Bee about how a hatchery truck with 1,000 trophy-sized rainbow trout was stolen.

The truck and the trout were discovered missing at the San Joaquin State Fish Hatchery, about 12 miles north of Fresno, Calif. The fish, which sell for $7 a pound, were 3 pounds apiece.

"If anyone smells anything fishy, they should give us a call," California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Foy told the Bee.

Jaime Arnold, you might want to give the California Department of Fish and Game a call.

You see, on Tuesday evening, Arnold, a Washington State trooper, had the unenviable task of cleaning up piles of fish heads from northbound lanes on I-5 in Seattle, according to a report by the Seattle PI.

Hmmm. Could these be...

Back to the news report: First, Arnold swept the fish heads off to the side of the freeway, the traffic on which can get pretty ugly during rush hour even without fish heads getting squished in one of the lanes. The report also said Arnold dug a hole off to the side of the freeway and buried the fish heads, because they were causing quite a stink.

The full report by KOMO News is right here:

So, could these really be the missing rainbow trout from California? And if so, what happened to the bodies of the fish?

If you have any further information, please contact the proper authorities in California or Washington, pronto!

The guess here? They were salmon heads used for crabbing. Some crabber was transporting the fish heads home to freeze them for next year, since crabbing season in Washington ended at sunset on Labor Day. They accidentally spilled off the back of the crabber's truck.That's feasible.

Of course, it would make for a much better story if they were the missing rainbow trout.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk is now 43 years old. So maybe he's ready to move from a self-propelled skateboard to an electric one, and the easier ride.

At a pricetag of $2,875, we're not sure how many other skateboarders could afford to make the jump to this RoamBoard Custom by LiquidRoam, but Tony Hawk certainly can, considering his estimated net worth.

After two years of testing, developing and refining, the RoamBoard, an electric skateboard, hit the marketplace a few weeks ago.

The wait is over... Roamboarding marries the feel of surfing and snowboarding, putting it to the street for the first time ever!"

The electric skateboard features a 12-mile range, a top speed of 15 mph, a six-foot turning radius, a hydraulic disc brake, an on-board charger and custom colors to make any skill-level skateboarder look cool.

Friday, September 2, 2011

1.) A lifeguard who saw the photo said it looked like a surfer paddling through a wave, as when surfers duck under waves.

2.) The photographer, Gary Elliott, said it doesn't look like a surfer and that it isn't the silhouette of a surfboard. He called it a sea creature in the below video with KFMB-TV in San Diego, though it's apparent he believes it to be a shark, a great white according to the news report.

3.) A shark expert in the news report said it looks like the tail end of an animal 10-12-feet long heading out to the sea, though off-camera he apparently called it a great white shark.

4.) In the previous week, there had been reports of shark sightings along a two-mile stretch of the San Diego coastline. In fact, there were reports Thursday morning of a 12-inch fin being sighted within 200 yards off shore in the Point Loma-Ocean Beach area, though it wasn't confirmed.

So, what do you think? Is this photo taken at Swamis Beach in Encinitas, Calif., a surfer? Or a great white shark?

Thursday, September 1, 2011

These surfers in the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia surf with flair. Or flare, as it were.

That's flare as in a flaming torch attached to the back of a surfboard, something members of the Red Bull Minor Threat surf team did recently to, what, gain publicity for Red Bull? Well, it worked.

At night, the glow emanating from the tubular waves is, well, quite illuminating. In the daytime, it looks like a guy surfing on a burning surfboard. It's one time where fire and water actually do mix.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Great Blondin, a tightrope artist of the mid-1800s, walked across the Niagara River on a rope without a net and without a safety line. He subsequently crossed while riding a bike, walking on stilts and carrying a man on his back. Who'd volunteer for that?

Oddly, Jean Francois Gravelet even ate an omelet he cooked on a small stove while balanced on a rope half-way across the gorge just down from Niagara Falls.

Dean Potter doesn't stop to cook and eat an omelet while slacklining across Yosemite Falls, yet his feat is no less daring -- even if he uses a safety line. Potter is known for pushing the limits in extreme sports, but he isn't that crazy.

Gravelet used a long balancing pole to keep him upright on the narrow tightrope. Potter, an expert at slacklining, a modern-day version of tightrope walking, uses only his arms.

As the water rushes over the iconic falls of Yosemite National Park, Potter becomes one with the rope (at least eventually):

Why does he do it? His reasoning might be as crazy as the stunt.

"People just think I'm a lunatic or an adrenaline junkie and that's not really what's going on with me," the highliner says on the video. "The beauty is mostly what I'm concerned with; that's really why I'm up here trying to cross a line over Yosemite Falls."

Most reasonable tourists of Yosemite National Park are able to capture its beauty just fine with two feet firmly planted on terra firma, thank you very much.

Oh, and by the way, we take it back. Potter really is crazy (or was crazy). Check out his slacklining video from Yosemite Valley sans security rope. He also has plenty of BASE jumping and free climbing videos posted online. Just google that crazy guy named Potter -- Dean not Harry.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

What kind of fish do you catch during a hurricane? Perhaps we should ask these two fishermen, who were spotted fishing in Rockaway, New York, during the winds and rain from Hurricane Irene.

AP captured the two fishermen in this raw video, entitled "Fishing Through Hurricane Irene":

So, what up with these fishermen? Is it a) They just wanted to do something stupid to get on TV; or b) They forget to check the weather forecast; or c) They really don't mind fishing in a hurricane; or d) They are filming a reality TV pilot on how people drown.

By the way, as soon as we get a fish report from Sweet Irene's fishing fools we'll pass it on.

Friday, August 26, 2011

And if you believe that headline, you'll believe everything you see on the news. To you people, listen up: Photoshop can make things look real. Don't be gullible.

Unfortunately, news about this unique technology called Photoshop has yet to reach Miami's Channel 7 News team, which reported on a great white shark swimming a flooded street in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Irene.

Instead, it ought to have been reporting on the Photoshopped photo of a great white shark swimming in a flooded street in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Irene. You know, like The Washington Post did.

Instead, its viewers got this report:

Again, don't believe everything you see or hear in the news, lest you fall for faux news.

The end of the video will have you oohing and aahing over the explosive waterworks produced by a very happy and appreciative humpback whale. The beginning will make you cringe. It's the sight of a dying humpback whale tangled in a gillnet and unable to move, and barely able to get air.

Luckily, Michael Fishback happened along in his skiff. With one small knife.

Michael Fishback is the co-founder of The Great Whale Conservancy. He narrates this 8 1/2-minute, feel-good video shot on Valentine's Day earlier this year and posted on YouTube just recently. Watch it; you will not be disappointed (it's also definitely worth sharing with others):

As you saw, Fishback and his crew worked for an hour to free the humpback whale from the gillnet. When it finally gained its freedom, the whale put on a show unlike any other you'll see in nature. Forty breaches, and a wave goodbye with its fluke.

"Mommy, I know what she's doing," you can hear a little girl say in the background. "She's showing us she's all free."

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Danny MacAskill, aka Danny MegaSkill, is at it again with another incredible video display of mountain bike dancing, choreographed beautifully to a catchy musical tune called "The Wolves" by Ben Howard.

MacAskill, the mountain biking pro and stunt artist from Scotland, jumps from one side of a train track to the other, climbs every piece of metal in an industrial train yard and, for the pièce de résistance, rides atop an unstable cable.

"It makes slacklining look like a walk down the middle of the street," Adventure Journal wrote.

The newest video is called "Industrial Revolutions," and it is every bit as good as his "Inspired Bicycles," a video that has produced more than 26 million views on YouTube, and "Way Back Home," another mountain bike video gone viral by the mountain biker.

It is poetry on a mountain bike and it is well worth five minutes of your day to check it out, right here, right now:

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

If you ever find yourself in the middle of the ocean surrounded by sharks, your chances of surviving will be greatly enhanced if man's best friend is swimming alongside you.

And here is why:

Yes, that's a dog taking a bite out of the tail of an unknown species of shark, presumably somewhere off Australia, since the gentleman who posted it on YouTube is from Down Under. The video has gone viral since being posted last month, with more than 1.3 million hits.

And why not? Everybody loves dogs. And everybody loves sharks. But who'd ever guess that when the two met the outcome would be so one-sided to the canine's side? Certainly not the videographer.

"He's giving him a bite, the dog's biting the shark!" the videographer says. "The dog is under the water ... What the hell? That is unbelievable."

Or is it? Apparently, dogs like to attack sharks, as evidenced from a dog jumping into the water to attack a shark hooked by a fisherman in this video, which has attracted over 27.5 million views.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Somewhere in Florida -- at least we assume it's Florida -- giant tarpon were prowling the waters near the docks, looking for something to sink their teeth into.

Then, along came this boy with a hand out. Watch him nearly lose it in this incredible YouTube video posted by someone named Mac:

If you weren't paying close attention, you might have thought the tarpon snagged the kid, but no, it took the bait the kid was holding, as well as the jacket he was using to cover his hand for protection against the tarpon's abrasive teeth.

Mac reports that the kid was super fast in grabbing his jacket back. Indeed, that was impressive. This is the question I have: Where is this place and can you fish from the dock?

Friday, July 8, 2011

The tarpon never had a chance. Even after the fisherman put his reel into free spool, allowing the tarpon to swim freely so it could escape its predator. The tarpon was a goner, falling victim to a shark gone wild.

The 200-pound tarpon at the end of the fisherman's line became a casualty of a 19-foot hammerhead shark somewhere in Tampa Bay. Luckily, a fisherman by the moniker jajapick posted footage of the shark going after the tarpon on YouTube. And here it is:

NSFW: For a few "holy [expletives]!"

Fun stuff. Except for the fisherman who just had a prized catch taken away by the shark.

Outdoors 720

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